BlogTV is another website which allows anybody armed with a webcam and a microphone to broadcast there own show online for others to watch, chat and interact with the show. In this review, I will be going through some of the features you can expect from this service, what it offers and a view on why it may be better or worse then the others out there.
The Show Page
The Viewers get to see a page which includes the Stream itself, the chat box to the right and below all of this there is the various Comments and show description. You can add people as Friends and they appear on your list (even if they are not in that show) and operators get to manage the people from here such as Ban, Kick and mute. They also embed the chat into the stream which is good if featured on the front page or on any recording – so you get the full experience even after the show has finished.
Broadcasting
When you hit “Broadcast” – you get a page come up that allows you to set the Language and Section you wish to appear in, email everybody informing that a show is about to go live, Twitter and even an Embed code for various pages. You can skip this step and proceed to the broadcasting console should you wish.
The next page that comes up is in fact the very same as the normal Viewers page except you have “Start Broadcast” or a new feature “Start HQ Broadcast”. As this will be your Broadcast – you have more features listed on the chat box to the right – such as Perma Ops and Banned users. If you do click “Start HQ Broadcast” – you end of a page showing you this:
This now means a good few of the Streaming sites provide a means to broadcast in high Quality using FME, I have not tested this and no idea of the restrictions for upload (as with Mogulus) but its good none the less.If you start a Normal Broadcast this is the console you get up:
You can choose your Camera, the Audio device along with the Start Broadcasting button – note the rest are Greyed out until you Go Live which makes sense. Also notice there is other shows listed on the top – so your cross advertising other shows.
Recording Shows
Once you do Broadcast – the other buttons now light up and one is the recording. The good thing about the recording of shows is that any of the chat that is going on will be saved and displayed on the said recording, this means your viewers won’t miss out on what was been said while you made the recording.
Pro Account and Adverts
Personally I think this is the cheapest “Pro” Account of any of the services and as you can see it offers no Adverts but this is not mistaken for Adverts on your Video, this is so that YOU do not see adverts on any of the streams / site, a normal user will still see adverts on your videos. The recording allows upto 30 minutes – so I have no idea the length of a Non-Pro user, less then 30 minutes I imagine. People can “Gift” you a Pro Account as well – so this is a good idea.
Settings
You get one page where you set everything – which includes information that does not seem relevant to the show such as what industry you work in and such, maybe BLOGTV are selling the Info to pay for the services? The Mini BIO is what people see when they enter your room or on your description.
Categories
One of the important things needed for any show is viewers and it is important that people can find you. You can break down the shows into Country, gender and also by type which is not as easy located as you would think. The fact I can bring the results down to show only UK based Streams for example is a very good one but I don’t think they are too bothered about which section you live in. I did some testing a while back to see how long it took from going live till someone came into the chat room and it was pretty quick though the numbers never grew too much over time.
Chat Clients
While it is handy that a person can open a web page and chat right alongside the show is good, the ability to keep the bad people out is made that much harder and this is were I always prefer a proper IRC Server as it means I can not only run a BOT to aut manage the room but lock the room down if things get bad. On the plus side though you can restrict chat to only registered users and it does get saved on recordings – so not all bad.
Adverts
When you first go into a room, you get a 6-10 Second advert then the show starts plus there is the normal adverts at the bottom as there seems to be on all services these days. I am wondering if you bought a Pro Account (as a Viewer) you would not get any adverts which is handy. Do not forget you can Embed the Video on your own site and get around the problem that way – though this wont stop the adverts on the stream itself.
Conclusion and thoughts
BLOGTV seems popular with Youtube people though I found a lot of people on there were just after watching young girls, remmeber they have a age limit on there broadcast of 16 and this is to protect people, try and get around this (if you are younger) and it won’t take long for your show to get shut down. I feel all broadcasting sites should impose this rule pesonally – Min age is 16 no matter what. I do like BlogTV over say Justin & Stickam but it dos not feel as professional as the rest – maybe aimed at a different Audience.
